Sony, Discord team up to bring chat-app to PlayStation

Sony Interactive Entertainment and Discord announced on Monday a partnership that will see the popular gaming-focused chat app integrated within the PlayStation’s in-house social tools, both companies said in a joint statement.

While the brief announcement didn’t specify the nature of the partnership, it highlighted a promise to “bring the Discord and PlayStation experiences closer together on console and mobile starting early next year.”

Discord boasts over 140 million monthly active users as of December 2020.

“Our goal is to bring the Discord and PlayStation experiences closer together on console and mobile starting early next year, allowing friends, groups, and communities to hang out, have fun, and communicate more easily while playing games together,” the statement read.

Industry experts argue that the partnership will either deliver a full-fledged Discord App to be made available on the PS Store, or a more limited integration where a user’s PlayStation Network (PSN) and Discord accounts are merged to provide seamless use.

“More information on how Sony is working to integrate Discord into its PlayStation products should be arriving in the coming months,” the company said.

In parallel, and as part of the deal, Sony Interactive Entertainment has made an undisclosed minority investment as part of Discord’s Series H round.

This partnership comes in line with Discord’s plans to expand and grow, as the company snubbed a $10 billion acquisition bid from Big Tech giant Microsoft Corp. earlier in April, in hopes of going after an initial public offering (IPO).